Copy in clipboard...
No nexus between Gaza truce talks, response to Haniyeh killing: Iran
“Iran’s response to the assassination of Martyr Haniyeh as an official guest of Iran and the issue of the cease-fire negotiations in Gaza are two separate issues,” Kanaani said during his weekly press conference on Monday, Press TV reported.
Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31, while he was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iranian political and military leadership, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and President Masoud Pezeshkian, have vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s killing.
“We have been and are the strongest and most important regional and international supporter of the cessation of war and [establishment of] cease-fire and we still support any action in this regard,” Kanaani said.
He, however, emphasized that the cease-fire negotiations have nothing to do with Iran’s “legitimate and legal right to punish the aggressor.”
Iran has the right to defend its security and territorial integrity in accordance with the United Nations Charter and has been committed to political and legal approaches in this regard, the spokesman said.
He expressed regret that the Security Council has failed to fulfill its duty vis-à-vis the Israeli regime, adding, “We told our friends that we do not seek to intensify insecurity in the region but we insist on Iran’s legal right to punish the aggressor and we will use it at the appropriate time.”
Kanaani responded to a question about some countries’ mediatory role to dissuade Iran from giving a response to the Israeli regime.
“If the international community and the Security Council were able and had shown in practice that they have the necessary will and ability to maintain regional and international peace in the face of the Zionist regime, we would not have witnessed more than 10 months of crimes in Gaza,” he said. Kanaani rejected the “irrational” request made by some countries from Iran to exercise self-restraint under the circumstances that Israel is posing a serious threat to regional peace and security.
“We are facing a rogue regime that does not adhere to any international regulations. The impunity of this regime is a threat to regional and international peace and security,” the Iranian spokesman emphasized.
Back in April, Iran launched a missile and drone attack on Israel in retaliation for a missile attack by Israel on Iran’s diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital of Damascus earlier in April, which claimed the lives of several members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.